Kalema-class patrol vessel
The Kalema-class of patrol vessels is a conversion the Kesa-class, lengthened by half a meter, with an added director for the new long-barrel 20 mm KwK 38 gun, which is its main armament. It has a reinforced superstructure as well as fully automatic gun reload, and magazines housed inside the superstructure as well. The boat is a little slower than the known for their ridiculous speed Kesa's though, so it is a bit easier to control. It is also using two 7,62mm ShKAS machine guns mounted on its stern. 5 of the Kesa-class were decommissioned instead of being refitted to a Kalema-class. Ships Equipment The boats are fairly well-armed for their size and type. The main armament consists of a 20mm KwK 38 L/55 autocannon. This German WWII era autocannon has been adapted to modern ammo specially for the boat, with far better stats than the old ShVAK autocannon on the Kesa-class. The KwK 38 comes with a fire control direction system, fully automatic operation and about 8000 shells in about 40 200-round clips. The fire control system provides three firing modes: fully automatic, 5-burst and single-shot firing. They also have two 7,62mm ShKAS machine guns mounted on the stern of the boat. Full auto firing mode The fire control provides accurate full-auto gunfire up to 2,5 km range against ships and to about 3 km range against low-flying aircraft. Five-burst mode This mode fires five rounds in quick succession, and is considered the most effective. It can fire accurately at up to 7 kilometer range, and at up to 5 kilometer range against low-to-mid-flying aircraft. The delay between each burst is 5 seconds. Single-shot mode The single-shot mode can fire accurately at up to 9 kilometers (100m short of the maximum gun range the 20mm cannon is capable of firing up to) but is unsuitable for sniping aircraft. The delay between each shot is 3 seconds. 7,62mm ShKAS The two 7,62mm ShKAS machine-guns are intended to be used against slower aircraft, damaging ships' weakspots (rangefinding, radars, masts, etc.) or last ditch defense, should the 20mm KwK 38 be unable to fire due to damage, lack of ammo or other factors. The Ivan incident On January 24th, 3522, one of the Kalema-class patrol vessels, Ivan, suffered heavy damage during radar tests. At some point during the testing course, the radar's computer crashed and thus it could not process directions at all, the ship became "blind" and ran into a cliff near Borcia. Due to the collision, Ivan(who was also involved in an incident while still being a Kesa-class) suffered from a severe structural fatigue, and despite repairs which included strenghtening the boat's structure, Ivan was withdrawn from service, as it was deemed too fragile to sail again, and she will be most likely preserved as a museum in Borcia. Notable facts Both Kesa- and Kalema-class of patrol vessels are known for being extremely sturdy and partially repairable with hand tools. They have these advantages over their peers due to the high-nickel-steel used in their construction, making their plating able to bend a lot without breaking. They also have a ridiculous speed, although lower than the Kesa's, but still respectable at 37,5 knots top speed. One interesting aspect of their construction is that the parts for them are built in Borcia or Tragen, and are then shipped to the shipyard in order to be put together and assembled. Category:Norgencia